Palestinian terrorists opened fire on bystanders at the gas station below the town in Samaria.
By JNS and WIN
Four Israelis were killed and four others were wounded in a shooting attack on Tuesday near the town of Eli in the Binyamin region of Samaria.
The attack took place at the entrance to a restaurant at a gas station on Route 60 located below Eli, which is north of Ramallah and south of Nablus (Shechem). At least three of the victims were killed inside the restaurant.
One seriously wounded victim was evacuated to Beilinson Hospital in Petach Tikva. Two others in moderate condition and one person lightly hurt were also treated on the scene before being taken to hospitals.
The names of the victims have been cleared for publication.
Two of the victims were 17-year-old boys. Elisha Antman was a resident of Eli. Nachman Shmuel Mordoff was from the town of Ahiya. Another victim was identified as Harel Masoud, a 21-year-old man from Yad Binyamin. Ofer Fairman, 60, was resident of Eli.
An armed civilian killed one terrorist in a firefight. The masked terrorists were armed with M16 assault rifles. They abandoned a vehicle (knives were found inside) but one fled in a second, stolen, car.
The Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) said Tuesday night that forces located and killed the assailant who had fled the scene. Also Tuesday night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a security assessment with Israel’s defense and strategic affairs ministers and other senior security officials at IDF Central Command headquarters, per the prime minister’s office.
The forces tracked down the terrorist’s stolen car close to the Palestinian Authority-controlled city of Tubas, northeast of Nablus. The terrorist tried to escape from the vehicle and was shot dead, the Shin Bet said.
An assault rifle used in the attack was found in the vehicle, said the agency.
Meanwhile, authorities on Tuesday night lifted a directive for residents of Eli to remain in their homes.